The Mystery starts here!

I take it none of you have read today's edition of the Leitrim Gazette newspaper? On page 2 there's an article about an illegal tour of the underground temple at Kilmatogh bog and look who the Gardai have arrested as the organiser of the tour -Dan Coburn! But it gets more sinister as the story goes on...

No, I didn't read it 'til now! What has happened to Dan? He's totally lost it this time! I mean, was he going to try kill those tourists? Sure sounds like it in the article. Can't understand why the Guards say they can't find the idol (which is only about 40ft high and that wide)?!

Last edited by J.Howey on Sat Apr 22, 2017 5:20 pm; edited 1 time in total

Do you mean he was attempting to 'harvest' the tourists during the time of the Harvest Moon? Interesting coincidence, I hadn't noticed until you said it. What I did notice was John put another chapter up on Scribd without telling us! It's here: https://www.scribd.com/document/325104825/Chaper-Three-draft

I'm not censoring my work, Frank, it's just a draft, it's not the final product, ok? I tell you, I don't know if it was the LSD-laced dust in the temple or the curse of the bog, but I'm really starting to think I'm going nuts! Yesterday a cold chill ran down my back as if I was sensing something, perhaps the manifestation of the subconscious dread of the self-revelation that I'm going nuts? It pressed on me, crushing me, and maybe it was out of desperation that I went to confession after mass. After the usual 'Bless me, father, for I have sinned' and the confessing of my sins, the priest asked me, 'Is there anything else, my child?'I was surprised by the question. 'Else?' I said.'Yes, my child.''Well, I'm frightened,' I stammered.'Of what?''I'm not sure, father. I've been having nightmares, but it may be spiritual in nature.' I waited for his response; he said nothing. I continued. 'I went with a small group of men and we went exploring an ancient underground temple, not two miles outside of this town.' I stopped, I couldn't reveal that I tresspassed on government property, even though I needed his counsel.'What happened?''We explored the temple, but afterwards, I mean ever since we came back, bad things have been happening to us. I feel like I've changed.''Has this got anything to do with the retired reporter who went crazy and brought a bus load of tourists down from Dublin to murder them?''Yes. He was with us when we went into the underground temple. He got lost and when he came back a few days later, he had changed into a different person, like he was possessed.''Possession is not to be blamed on every instance of mental sickness.''I know, I know. But I'm afraid now...I feel sort of lost.''But you've come back to the Church...for guidance and repentance! Sin is a dangerous thing, my child. It spawns guilt and that is as it should be. But if the sin is not recognized and absolved and the guilt is allowed to remain, it can breed suspicians and deceptions. It can materialize evils and threats that don't exist, except in the recesses of the mind. And that is why you have these fears and conjured these nightmares. Only when you root out the sin, embrace Christ, believe in him and trust again will the fears, horrors and doubts disappear. He will give you the inner strength to fight the evils around you. Now, to start you on your way, I want you, for penance, to say a rosary every day and to start practising your religion by coming to Church, having communion, and believing in God. If at any time you have doubts or fears, do not hesitate to come back to me for guidance... Say the Act of Contrition and I will absolve you of your sins.'I did and the priest began his absolution. That's when all hell broke loose. I mean people started screaming and yelling in the church outside the confessional box. When I pulled back the curtain to have a look, I saw the people running out of the church entrance like there was a fire. I couldn't see any fire, maybe there was a gas leak I thought. If there was a gas leak then the prayer candles would cause an explosion, so I thought I should get up and leave pretty quickly. The priest was already outside the confessional and looking round to see what caused the disturbance, that's when he looked at me. 'You brought this in here!' he yelled at me, before I left the Church.

Last edited by J.Howey on Mon Apr 24, 2017 3:47 pm; edited 1 time in total

I'm not too sure. But when I asked a parishioner later that evening about what they saw in the church that scared them into leaving, they said they'd seen "a haze". When I asked to describe it, all they could say was that “it just hung in the air...It didn't look like it was smoke coming from a fire, but we didn't want to remain in case there was a fire.”

Last edited by J.Howey on Mon Apr 24, 2017 3:49 pm; edited 1 time in total

Perhaps what they saw in the church was a different manifestation of the same phenomenon you saw in Kilmatogh bog the first time you went there? And maybe it's the same thing described by the local farmer, Frank O’Kelly, in the Leitrim Gazette article 'Weird Sights In The Sky And How An Experimental Community Became A Violent Cult'?

J.Howey wrote:Can't understand why the Guards say they can't find the idol (which is only about 40ft high and that wide)?!

I went out to Kilmatogh bog again this morning to have a look-see and the cops were right...the wooden bull effigy is gone. All that's left is a burnt husk where it once stood. I wonder who destroyed it?

There were no signs up to dissuade visitors or any indication anyone had been there recently. I figured the place would be inundated with nosey-parkers after the news article about the illegal tour of the site, but nope, nothing.

Just as I was leaving I felt without any apparent reason, an unexplainable tinge of emotion: an odd mixture of fear and depression. I felt cold, nervous, and a little shaky. That's when I looked up above me and I saw a sinister black streak across the sky. It was cloaked in darkness and silent as a black cloud that began to drop into the bog and pierce through its surface. Got a snap of it before it was gone (in case I was hallucinating) but I didn't investigate further, I just wanted to get the hell out of there.

Last edited by J.Howey on Mon Apr 24, 2017 4:05 pm; edited 3 times in total

J.Howey wrote:...the cops were right...the wooden bull effigy is gone. All that's left is a burnt husk where it once stood. I wonder who destroyed it?

I'm betting it was the authorities. After all, the Gardai were already present at the scene before the bus load of tourists got there, as stated in the newspaper article SusanaB posted. Coincidence? I think not! They probably finished demolishing it when the tourists arrived. But what interests me is who built the frigging thing in the first place? Is there some devil cult running around out there?

By the way, if you've taken a photo of your hallucination then it's not a hallucination...which means it's not a psychological effect of the drug compounds breathed in during our excursion down into the underground temple. It must also mean that my hallucinations are real and not an effect of the psychotropic drugs. Now, there's a frightening thought!

I'd have to agree with you Kidrotten, it is a frightening thought if they're real. Continuing with my book, I've uploaded the draft of chapter five. You can read it here:https://www.scribd.com/document/328138645/Chapter-Five-draft. I know it's gone very quiet lately on here, but any feedback by anybody would be great.

In other news, I got a phone call from a nurse at St. Patricks Mental Hospital, Sligo, on Monday. Apparently she got my mobile number from Dan Coburn as he is a patient there. She said Dan had written a 'story' and wanted his doctor to send it to me because Dan thought it was 'important for me to read it'. She asked me if it was okay to send it out. I said yeah, and gave her my address. I can't imagine what this is about. Dan was pretty crazed last time I saw him. I doubt his doctor would agree to send out anything by him that could be construed as unsettling beyond words, but you never know!

Last edited by J.Howey on Mon Apr 24, 2017 4:08 pm; edited 1 time in total

Find me a sigil or a rusty piece of sheet metal. Nail it to my body. Anything to hold it back! The line between reality and madness is wearing thin...the walls have cracks and the foundations are slipping. I dream there’s soot in my mouth and singes on the tips of my fingers. The longer I go without sleep, the closer it seems to get to me. Even when I'm awake I keep seeing it just out of the corner of my eye. Or is that my own shadow? I don't know anymore!I wish I'd never gone into that accursed underground temple! I think it's oozing out of my subconscious like a tide of terror, washing over my everyday reality, and dragging me further into its dark realm. I could make it go away if I would only let it in. A little closer. Just a bit.

Sorry I've not been on here for a while because one of my cats is sick. I read your draft of Chapter Five and am pleasantly surprised that the community implemented raised bed gardening. Are any of the beds still there or have they been removed completely?Wow, I'm amazed that DanTheMan has contacted you through his doctor (even though the doc seems like he hasn't a clue why Dan wanted to send you that story). In my opinion Dan is the epitome of the unreliable narrator. He's obviously crazy, after all how would a woman, said to be Annmarie Cummings, survive underground all these years? What has she been eating to survive? Where did she get drinking water? None of it makes sense, unless she is a figment of his insane imagination.Poor Kidrotten seems to be getting worse....I hope you follow John's advice and seek medical help!

SusanaB wrote:In my opinion Dan is the epitome of the unreliable narrator. He's obviously crazy, after all how would a woman, said to be Annmarie Cummings, survive underground all these years? What has she been eating to survive? Where did she get drinking water? None of it makes sense, unless she is a figment of his insane imagination.

There are cases of people going into hiding and surviving for decades; just look at the Japanese soldier, Lt. Hiroo Onoda, who was sent by the Imperial army in 1944 to the remote Philippine island of Lubang to conduct guerrilla warfare. He lived in the jungle eating coconuts and bananas and deftly evading search parties he believed were enemy scouts, only to emerge in March 1972 unaware the war had ended. So it's possible she could have survived. What desturbs me is Dan's account of seeing the giant worm!

SusanaB wrote: I read your draft of Chapter Five and am pleasantly surprised that the community implemented raised bed gardening. Are any of the beds still there or have they been removed completely?

All evidence of the Community including their raised bed gardens are gone. Thanks for reading the chapter by the way, any suggestions for improvement would be appreciated. I'm running out of ideas for content for my book, so the initial quote of 120 pages is a bit of an overestimate. There is one other source of local information that might shine more light on the XUAL Community that I haven't tapped yet; namely the town's local magic school. I seem to remember the archaeologist, Raymond Broadbent, mentioning it in his psychiatric patient file as "a wizard's school". Yeah, I know what you're thinking: 'What have they got to do with anything?' But I won't know unless I try them. The town guide to Blackross says they've been in the area for over 200 years, so they probably know a lot that other people don't know or have forgotten. In any case, I've written a letter to the School's principal and am waiting for a reply. Hear's hoping I get some new juicy information for my book.

Last edited by J.Howey on Mon Apr 24, 2017 4:30 pm; edited 1 time in total

J.Howey wrote:There is one other source of local information that might shine more light on the XUAL Community that I haven't tapped yet; namely the town's local magic school.

You must be desperate to want to talk with them. Don't be surprised if they don't bother to write back; I've always heard they're not particularly friendly to non-magic folk (i.e. those who've no magical background). Actually, I've always been a bit afraid of them, which is weird because I've never had any dealings with the teachers or their apprentices, whatsoever. I remember there's a published diary of one of their pupils that drowned a few years back (in 2009, I think it was). It was big news because people thought he'd been kidnapped so the townfolk went crazy thinking their little darlings might be kidnapped too. But then they found his body in the lake out at Amenity Park on the outskirts of town. It was ruled as 'death by misadventure' or something like that, but scuttlebutt was he drowned himself. Anyway, tell us how you get on with the Principal, will you?